Have your say about the Seattle Parks zoo assignment

Very soon, a new Seattle City Council Chair of Parks will be selected. The Parks Chair oversees Woodland Park Zoo. Bamboo, Chai and Watoto are the three elephants who have lived 45, 33 and 43 years, respectively, on display at the Zoo. They need a council member who is concerned about their welfare to be the next Parks Chair.

Please ask Sally Clark (City Council President), Ed Murray (the Mayor-elect) and the other City Council members to choose a City Council member who will work with the Zoo to retire the elephants to a sanctuary in a warmer climate with hundreds of acres to roam.

The Zoo-appointed Task Force’s recommendations should not be used to determine the elephants’ fate. Their bias was clear, with 5 out of the 14 being current or former Zoo Board members and many others having a clear conflict of interest. The Zoo Board will make their decision about Bamboo, Chai and Watoto’s future early next year.

Friends of WPZ Elephants commissioned a survey using Research Now, an independent research company. The findings debunk the Zoo’s cherished catchphrase and the Task Force’s justification for keeping the elephants: That seeing an elephant will inspire people “to learn, care and act to help conserve elephants and their habitats in the wild.”

NOT SO—NOT EVEN CLOSE:

97% of survey respondents knew about elephant poaching for their ivory. They learned about this crisis from print and media—notfrom Woodland Park Zoo.

88% of people who saw the elephants at the Zoo didn’t change to whom they donate or products that they buy.

Our wet and cold climate is wrong for elephants. It forces Bamboo, Chai and Watoto to be locked up in a tiny, barren stall for 16 to 17 hours a day for over half of the year. It’s like you being locked up in a broom closet.

Please write a polite email asking for the new Parks Chair to be someone who will work with Woodland Park Zoo to retire Bamboo, Chai and Watoto to a sanctuary so they may have a humane quality of life.

Many of you might have seen that a chimpanzee named Billy was on the show Chelsea Lately last week. Billy was seen rocking and showing his top teeth–a clear sign of distress. The show said they would have Billy back the next night, and despite hearing from thousands of people to please not air Billy again, they went ahead with the segment anyway.

We want to continue to put pressure on the show and on Chelsea Handler, the host of the show. Not only are there numerous welfare concerns, but seeing chimpanzees alongside humans perpetuates the pet trade.

Studies also show that since chimpanzees are so prevalent in media, people aren’t aware of their endangered status. Please speak up for Billy and all chimpanzees still used in entertainment and ask Chelsea to issue a mea culpa about Billy’s appearance and promise to never use apes on her production again.

Please send a polite letter to her, c/o Tom Brunelle, letting her know that chimps like Billy should not be used in entertainment.

I was disappointed to hear that Chelsea Lately had Billy the chimpanzee on the show, and despite hearing from concerned advocates, aired a second appearance by Billy. You should know that great apes used in entertainment are torn away from their mothers as infants, often repeatedly beaten during training, and then discarded when they become too strong to be managed.

Using a chimpanzee for a cheap laugh sends the message that these amazing beings are simply props. Surely you are aware that chimpanzees are endangered species in critical need of protection?

Please make the compassionate decision to issue a mea culpa for airing Billy’s segments two nights in a row, and pledge to never exploit great apes for entertainment purposes again. Thank you for your consideration of my comments on this urgent matter.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]
[Your city & state]

If you send an e-mail to Chelsea, please BCC Eyes on Apes at EyesOnApes@ChimpsNW.org for tracking purposes. Thank you!

After helping to spread the vegan message to holiday shoppers, Please join Action for Animals in demonstrations at both Nordstrom and Macy’s. These stores continue to sell the fur of animals who have been cruelly killed by such methods as drowning, poisoning, strangulation, genital electrocution, and being trapped or beaten to death.

The demonstration will begin at Nordstrom at noon. At 1:00pm we will march to Macy’s where the protest will continue until 2:00pm.

Signs and flyers will be provided; you just need to show up! The more people we have speaking up for the animals the better, so please be there and invite your friends and family to attend! You can invite people through the Facebook event page.

Please remember to not wear any animal-sourced clothing (leather, wool, feathers, down, etc.). We want people to stay focused on our message of not exploiting animals.

Fur is not the only animal-sourced clothing that is a product of exploitation and cruelty. For more about how animals are exploited for clothing, see AFA’s skin trade info.

So many people come to downtown Seattle on the day after Thanksgiving. That’s why NARN will be there! We’re going to take advantage of the crowds who attend the Holiday Parade and spread the message of compassion for all.

If you can help distribute copies of Why Vegan, Vegan Holiday Recipes or Vegan Starter Kits, please contact rachel@narn.org

The Anacortes Middle School is having a donkey basketball event as a fundraiser on January 18th. PEOPLE can volunteer for sports, but animals are forced to participate. In donkey basketball events, the donkeys are forced to carry people far too big and heavy for them, have their tender mouths jerked around, and are kicked and often hit, as well as shouted at by teenagers who care more about winning the game than hurting the donkeys. The donkeys are dragged from school to school and are usually not even given food and water beforehand so that they don’t have “accidents” during the games. The deprivation, constant travel, unfamiliar surroundings, loud noise, and rough handling are extremely stressful for them. They often develop unpredictable temperaments and have been known to lash out in frustration or fear, causing injury to participants or bystanders (who, if they are there supporting such a method of fundraising, totally deserve it).

Allowing animals to be brutalized for entertainment ANYWHERE desensitizes young people to animal suffering and reinforces the already way-too-prevalent belief that there is no good reason to be considerate of animals. They should not have to pay the price at school fundraisers. There are LOADS of humane and fun ways to raise school funds.

This was brought to our attention by activist Deanna Devaul in Mount Vernon, who has asked for our help. PLEASE take 10 minutes and write a real paper letter (four, pls!) to the following people (can be the same for each one), whose reactions to Deanna’s concerns have varied from indifferent to unpleasant. A call would always be great ALSO. Schools ALL OVER THE COUNTRY cancel donkey basketball ALL THE TIME; let’s shut this one down, too. THANK YOU!

You may have heard that the University of Washington wants to expand their animal research facilities. Tomorrow, November 14th, is a chance to speak up for animals and say NO to the expansion!

Every Thursday, the UW Board of Regents meet. The expansion is on this week’s agenda. Action for Animals has a Facebook event that you can join. And a petition you can sign. Here’s more from their action alert:

The agenda for THIS Thursday’s University of Washington Board of Regents meeting includes “Animal Research and Care Facility – Approve Site Selection, Adopt Project Budget, and Approve the Use of the Internal Lending Program.” This agenda item is referring to approving a new animal research facility on the UW campus. This means that we have just TWO days to tell the Board of Regents to NOT approve this animal lab expansion, which will allow the UW to double the number of primates, rabbits, and pigs who are tortured for “research” and subjected to the UW’s history of animal abuse and neglect.

This is the final countdown to the Board’s vote on the new animal research facility. Let’s show the Board that they must listen to opposition to the lab, and that it is time for the University of Washington to stop investing in the use of animals.

2) Call the office of the Board of Regents at 206-543-1633. Help make sure that this last whole day before the vote is filled with phone calls asking the Board to NOT approve the animal research facility. Send an email as well to the Board at regents@uw.edu. Ask your friends and family to join you in contacting the Board!

3) Attend the meeting of the Board of Regents tomorrow. When the Regents are considering their votes, let’s make sure that they are in a room that is filled with people who they know want them to vote AGAINST the lab expansion! If you can attend the meeting, please meet outside the UW Tower at the corner of NE 45th St. and Brooklyn Ave. NE at 12:45pm SHARP. We’ll talk briefly and then walk together into the meeting, which is on the 22nd floor of the UW Tower. Please also help to encourage other people to attend the meeting so that we can fill up the room! You can use the Facebook page about the meeting to invite people: https://www.facebook.com/events/207612259423856/

We don’t often have the chance to oppose labs before they’re even built, so please be a part of making a strong statement of opposition on behalf of the animals. You are welcome (and encouraged!) to forward this email as widely as you like. Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope to see you on Thursday!

If you’re interested in expanding your reach and making a bigger impact for animals, come to Animal Activism 301. You don’t have to have attended the first two sessions to benefit from this one.

The focus of this session is avoiding burnout and staying sane!

We’ll continue our discussion of how to be an effective activist. How do animal rights activists bear the things we know? Stress impacts us all, but with the right physical and emotional self-care we can remain committed, useful advocates.

In December of last year, Michigan state politicians rushed a ‘lame duck’ bill through the House and Senate designating wolves a “game” species (i.e., an animal that can be hunted) and authorizing an open season on wolves. Governor Snyder signed it into law. It was already legal to kill wolves in order to protect dogs or livestock, and there is no scientific reason to hunt and trap them — the ONLY reason is for the “fun” of a small minority of hunters evidently lacking the gene responsible for empathy.

However, as you may remember reading here earlier this year, a coalition of different groups and citizens called Keep Michigan’s Wolves Protected quickly collected far more signatures than were necessary to put the issue of whether to allow wolf hunting on the November ballot. This meant that the citizens — not the politicians or a few wealthy special-interest groups — would decide the fate of the 650-odd wolves in the state. Michigan politicians responded by quickly passing another law giving the Natural Resources Commission the authority to designate wolves (and any other animals) “game animals”. Because the NRC is a regulatory body and not a legislative one, Michigan voters would be powerless to reverse their decisions.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is currently circulating a petition (unfortunately only for Michigan voters, but here is the link in case you know anyone there: http://keepwolvesprotected.com/sign) to place a referendum of this new law on the ballot. Last week, reporter John Barnes and a team of other investigative reporters from the state’s top newspapers blew the whistle on a conspiracy hatched by a lying farmer, state lawmakers, and the state Department of Natural Resources. The director of Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, Jill Fritz (also HSUS’ state director) has asked Governor Rick Snyder to block the hunt scheduled to begin November 15th, since its entire rationale was corrupt, based on fabricated reports of wolves hanging around a daycare center and appearing in people’s back yards, and incidents of wolf depredation on a single farm whose owner baited the wolves to begin with, for the sake of financial reimbursement. In addition, after soliciting public feedback on the wolf hunt, the Natural Resources Commission ignored and deleted more TEN THOUSAND of the anti-hunting emails they received.

Does this corruption shock you? It shouldn’t. These are people who want to subject wolves to the prolonged and atrocious suffering caused by shooting, bowhunting and trapping. What is lying, cheating and stealing compared to that?

World Vegan Day was started in 1994 to celebrate The Vegan Society’s 50th anniversary. The Vegan Society formed in the UK in 1944. That was the year that the term “vegan” was coined and defined.

Vegans come in all shapes and sizes and walks of life. It’s hard to generalize who a vegan is. Here is a bit of information about what vegans strive for:

Vegans abstain from animal products. Food wise, that means meat (including fish), eggs, and dairy. Veganism extends to other areas as well. Vegans don’t wear animal products (fur, leather, wool, silk, feathers, or any other item from an animal), or use household products containing animal ingredient or products tested on animals. Vegans don’t support captive animals acts like those in the circus or SeaWorld.

Vegans view animals as the sentient beings that they are, and not commodities to be exploited and used by humans. You can read our Vegan FAQs for answers to many questions about being vegan.

November is World Vegan Month. A perfect time to go vegan. One way to start your journey is by ordering a vegan starter pack. Several organizations have packs to help you get started. The packs include things like recipes, nutritional info, and compelling reasons to go vegan.

If you’re already vegan, and need a bit of support, you can join the vegan mentor program, which matches new vegans with established vegans so you can make a smooth and lasting transition to veganism. It’s nice to know you’re not alone in your quest for a cruelty-free life.

So whether you’re just thinking about veganism or you’re well on your way, World Vegan Day is a great time to make a commitment to the animals, the earth, and your health.

Calendar

January2019

NARN's board of directors meets monthly to discuss our campaigns and administrative issues. Guests are welcome to attend if we have enough time on our agenda.

If you wish to have an agenda item added to the NARN Board Meeting, please email info@narn.org at least a day in advance. You can also send us a message on Facebook anytime or even the day of the meeting and we'll get back to you. All NARN Board Meetings are held in Seattle.

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by our desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join us in providing free, educational information to the public about the dangers of supporting backyard breeding practices and puppy mills, the importance of spaying and neutering pets, the time and money it takes to responsibly care for a living creature, and the positive effects of screening pet owners through application processes.

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2093159060741059/

Come join us for a delicious brunch at the fabulous Celest Cafe AND write some letters for animals.

NARN provides the stationery, pens, stamps, sample letters, and ideas for what to write -- just bring yourself. You can even bring your laptop if you'd prefer to type or email your letters!

Why letter writing? Letter writing is a simple way to make change for the animals! At our letter writing events, we write for many different reasons: opposition to the creation of new animal laboratories, support for sending animals to sanctuary, promotion of vegan events and issues through letters to the media, and raising the spirits of activists and comrades who have been jailed for their pro-animal and political actions!

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 6pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/512061562622307/

The University of Washington's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) will be meeting to discuss various research protocols (study designs). This is your chance to voice your opinion about the research on animals that goes on at the UW. Please come and speak for the animals!
The meetings are held at the South Campus Center; Room #342 (in between San Juan Road & Columbia Road); behind the Magnuson Health Sciences Center (1925 N.E. Pacific St) )
http://www.washington.edu/maps/

Unfortunately, they frequently re-schedule or cancel their meetings in an attempt to avoid the public, so please call the Public Affairs Office at 206-543-9180 to make sure the meeting is still happening at the given time.
You can also check out their calendar here (copy & paste link into your browser)
http://oaw.washington.edu/iacuc-meeting-schedule/

This month we will be checking out Travelers Thali House. They have tons of vegan options. See their menu here:
http://www.travelersthalihouse.com/Menu102014.html
The Social Discussion Group is a casual event. Drinkers and non-drinkers are welcome, and you don't have to be vegetarian to participate. We hope you'll join us! Questions? Contact rachel[at]narn[dot]org

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/406570843449273/

La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza will be offering a tasty Vegan Tamales Cooking Class in partnership with the Food Empowerment Project! Now is your chance to learn how to make vegan tamales from a master tamalera! The tamales are prepared in the handmade and traditional fashion using cultural ingredients. Sweet sangrias, beer and wine will also be served and is included in the ticket price.

Class will begin promptly at 10:00 AM in the kitchen at El Centro de la Raza. Classes typically take 2.5 to 3 hours long. All cooking supplies and ingredients will be provided, but please bring your own apron.

The money for the La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza Latin Cooking Classes go to fund El Centro de la Raza's Senior programs.

For updates on this event see
https://www.facebook.com/events/2404477662895760/